Each Monday we feature several important stories in US politics — ones that just occurred, are defining moments, or are key markers on the horizon. We call these Monday Eye Openers. Romney and Ryan hammer Obama in Ohio This weekend, Mitt Romney jump-started his campaign by skydiving from 128,000 feet above the earth’s surface. Wait, no—that was…

But the congressman from Wisconsin was also here, it seems, to rally cultural conservatives and to help ensure that they stay energized enough to vote come November.

It wasn’t his line about how Romney is “an honest man with a charitable heart; a doer and a promise keeper,” nor his criticism of the president’s economic polices, that got the biggest standing applause.

For while he said that “in this election, values voters are also economic voters,” and tried to connect the economy under the president to social issues, Ryan was much more in his element toward the end of his speech, when he addressed worries about the HHS mandate and its impact on religious non-profits, especially those run by or associated with the Catholic Church.

“You would be hard pressed to find another group in America that does more to serve the health of women and their babies,” Ryan, who is Catholic, said.

But he claimed that the mandate is “not a threat and insult to one religious group; it is a threat and insult to every religious group.” It’s a standard line from the Romney campaign, but meant something different here.

In the 112th Congress, Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin just announced as Mitt Romney’s running mate, is one of the most powerful members of the GOP. He’s the House Budget Committee Chairman, a highly influential insider.

[T]he new Medicare prescription drug benefit will cost more than $1.2 trillion in the coming decade, a much higher price tag than President Bush suggested when he narrowly won passage of the law in late 2003…. As recently as September, Medicare chief Mark B. McClellan said the new drug package would cost $534 billion over 10 years.

As Bruce Bartlett noted in 2009, “the drug benefit had no dedicated financing, no offsets and no revenue-raisers; 100% of the cost simply added to the federal budget deficit.”

In the Wisconsin recall election, people on both sides have found creative ways to communicate their views. Here is a story of one way that politics becomes social — using old-school technology.

The Overpass Light Brigade, a collection of anti-Scott Walker protestors in Wisconsin, display signs with their political positions on a freeway overpass May 26, 2012, in Milwaukee. (Photo by Lucas Anderson/UW Election Eye)

MILWAUKEE – Forty people stood on the Interstate 43 pedestrian overpass in the northern part of this city, clutching three-foot tall, wooden signs dotted with Christmas light lettering. In the receding daylight, all that could be seen was their message. That was the goal.

“Vote Barrett June 5″ spelled out the lighted letters. And then in smaller letters a few feet away: “Recall.”

On Tuesday the signs all suggested that the Republican presidential primary was over, done, finito, and that Mitt Romney and Barack Obama were ready to rumble. Someone needs to tell Rick Santorum, though, because he was defiant in defeat.

Romney adding to his list of endorsements In the last few days, Mitt Romney has picked up several endorsements. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and Rep. Paul Ryan’s endorsements come just days before the Wisconsin primaries on Tuesday, April 3. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s endorsement, who has been speculated as a potential running…

Romney adding to his list of endorsements In the last few days, Mitt Romney has picked up several endorsements. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and Rep. Paul Ryan’s endorsements come just days before the Wisconsin primaries on Tuesday, April 3. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s endorsement, who has been speculated as a potential running…